CULTURES - LATINO

¡Hola! Welcome to the Latino Culture. My name is Delia Diaz and I am a bilingual elementary school teacher. Being a Latina is much more than a face or a language, it is an identification with a rich culture of people and customs.

Latinos represent a variety of people from South America, Central America, and Mexico. The number of Latinos in the United States is growing at an amazing rate. Not only is Spanish a beautiful romance language but is also one of the most important languages in the world when referring to trade and tourism. Being bilingual is so important nowadays. Knowing more languages makes the world more accessible to us. Growing up in the United States, my father always feared that his children would lose the Spanish that we had been spoken to since birth.

He always encouraged us to use Spanish at home and to read and write in Spanish, even if at school we did everything in English. This helped to keep our culture and traditions alive. We all have to struggle and sacrifice to be successful but the key is not to lose touch of our roots. I am proud of being a Latina and of sharing my culture with you.

Note: Initially, the information contained in this section is focusing mainly on Spanish speaking people of Mexican descent. One such group that we have concentrated on is the Mixtec who hail from the Oaxaca region in Mexico. To learn more about Mixtec history or web sites and additional reading related to Mixtec culture follow the links. As the site develops, we will continue to expand the Latino section of the website to bring out the cultural differences within this broadly defined spectrum.